


More Than Just the Drapes

by KaworuMakino



Series: Eiji Thirst Week 2020 [1]
Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Past Sexual Abuse, Post-Canon, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:06:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25861042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaworuMakino/pseuds/KaworuMakino
Summary: Day 1 - sweat/tan lines. Ash wakes up alone in a hotel room. But where's Eiji?
Relationships: Ash Lynx/Okumura Eiji
Series: Eiji Thirst Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1876594
Comments: 4
Kudos: 89
Collections: Eiji Thirst Week 2020





	More Than Just the Drapes

"Mmmm..."

I stirred, only hazily conscious. Stretched my arms out to the side, caught nothing but air. Rolling over to the other side, I extended my reach again. Still nothing. I blinked. The room was so bright. Where was Eiji? So bright...

I took a few moments to adjust to the sunshine (Too much...what time was it?) and looked around. There was no one on the other side of the hotel bed and the door to the adjoining bathroom was wide open; the lights were off. No Eiji there either. 

I glanced over at the clock on the bedside table. 10:05 A.M. Late. Not really, but by my new standards of life with Eiji. He always liked to race the birds in terms of who could chirp at me first in the morning. 

So where was he? I peered around the room for clues. Everything looked as I remembered it from the night before: a book on the nightstand, a few clothes draped over a chair, a suitcase propped up in the corner, and otherwise standard hotel emptiness. I glanced over at the counter next to the TV and noticed a piece of paper ripped out of the pad beside it. I got up and walked over to it.

_Ash,_

_You'll probably still be sleeping when I get back but in case you wake up, don't worry, I just went down to the beach._

_Love, Eiji_

Reading the last line made me uber aware of my own heartbeat. _Love, Eiji._ I smiled, then turned toward the window. 

_Don't worry._ I frowned. There had been a time when I was constantly afraid of not knowing where Eiji was, of what danger could befall him. Now, over half a day's flight across the world, I was working past that fear, breaking it down, but not completely. I felt guilty for making Eiji feel like he would ever have to say such a thing: to not worry. 

We were safe here, though. This morning, for whatever reason, I felt truly content, not on edge. Maybe it was the amount of time we'd spent in Japan already, how long I'd gone without seeing anyone who wanted me dead. Or worse, who wanted me alive and squirming for them to rub their hands all over. 

This morning I woke up and the first thing I thought of was Eiji. Not missing Griff, not Dino's hands, not if the room I had slept in was safe. Eiji. 

Plus, it didn't hurt to know he wasn't far away. I opened the blinds up a bit and peeked out at the portion of beach I could see from our window on the third floor. No sign of him, but the property covered a fairly long stretch of the coastline. I brushed my teeth, put on some deodorant, and tussled with my hair a bit in front of the mirror. Straightening it out a little bit but not completely, leaving a little bit of the natural wildness that Eiji had told me he liked so much. 

I remembered the sensation of his fingertips caressing my hair, temples, and neck and I felt goosebumps on my skin. I needed to go find him, just wanted to see him so bad. 

So, after fetching some shorts, sandals, and one of Eiji's shirts (he liked to wear mine, and two could play that game) I left our hotel room, walked down the stairs and past the lobby out toward the shore. 

I passed some small groups of people here and there as I looked around. I still felt a bit awkward around strangers but I was no longer as tense as I'd used to be. If anything I was now more conscious of how much I stuck out from the crowd. I winced at the thought of being looked down on as a tourist, although I supposed that I technically was. 

As I walked on I shifted over from the sidewalk directly by the hotel down to the beach itself. I felt bits of sand brush up against my feet and ankles, as well as the sun's heat against my exposed skin. It was already very warm out. 

After about five minutes I spotted Eiji further down by himself at a more secluded spot. There were higher dunes and more crags than on the smoother sands further up, so it was natural that people didn't usually stray this far. Eiji, though, looked like he was having the time of his life. 

I stopped walking and just stared at him for a few moments. His hair was wet and messy and hung tightly against his face. I felt an urge to run up, run my fingers through it, press my nose against his. I gulped. We'd been fairly physically affectionate for a while, but it still felt like getting to know a new, previously hidden part of myself. 

Eiji's body and shirt were soaked almost all the way up his nipples, and clumps of sand stuck to random parts of his legs. He was grinning as he held something up to his face and inspected it. I squinted and realized it was a shell. Near his feet were more shells stacked up in a small pile. It looked like he'd been searching through the shallow waters for them. 

I started moving again, smiling as I walked toward him and waited for him to notice me. It took a minute before he registered the sounds of my footsteps and glanced over. I saw curiosity shift to awe and then sheer ecstatic joy in a matter of seconds. Butterflies took flight in my chest as he tossed the shell he'd been holding to the side and ran over toward me. 

"Ash!" he exclaimed and began to close in as if to hug me, but then he stopped himself. "Sorry, I...shouldn't get you wet. I'm glad to see you. Are you hungry? We could get breakfast."

"It's okay, and sure, that sounds good. Are you alright, or do you need to dry off first? You look really wet."

"Of course I am wet," Eiji laughed. "I've been shell hunting. Although I didn't think to bring a towel when I came out this morning..."

"Here, at least put on a dry shirt. It's yours anyway," I said, literally giving him the shirt off my back. 

"Thanks," he said after a pause, like he was focused on something else. 

"What's up?" I asked. "Like what you see?"

"Yes," Eiji said, blushing. "But that's not all."

"What's up?"

"Remember when you said your hair matched your eyebrows matched your drapes?" Eiji asked. 

Now it was my turn to blush. "Y...yeah?"

"The hairs around your nipples match too," Eiji chuckled. 

I averted my gaze from his, felt the heat in my cheeks intensify. "Yeah, well, of course they do."

"Sorry, sorry, I'm just teasing you. Thank you for the shirt."

And with that he lifted his wet shirt up over his shoulders and I got a view of his chest and stomach, still surprisingly well-toned considering how long it had been since he trained regularly. His skin, I noticed, was patchy. I hadn't noticed the tan he'd gotten while he still had the shirt on, but with it off I could tell how much paler his abdomen and upper arms were. 

"You...you..." I began. 

"Like what you see?" Eiji winked at me as he put the dry shirt on. 

"Yeah," I admitted. "Though you look like you got in a fight with your sunscreen and it decided not to help you."

"Pfft," Eiji said. "Silly Aslan." He then wrapped his arm around mine and bumped our hips together. "Let's go get you a dry shirt too and then go grab some food."

"Yeah...okay," I replied softly, ruminating on how nice it felt anytime he called me by my real name. I'd always hated it back in America but here, hearing it from Eiji...it felt intimate. 

As we walked up the beach back toward the hotel I spoke up. "Hey, Eiji?"

"Yes, Ash?"

"I'm in love with you."

Eiji stopped and looked at me, eyes watery. "Oh, Aslan—"

He then tackled me to the ground and laid on top of me, chest to chest, bringing his lips against mine in a deep kiss. I gave in to the feeling of kissing him back, closing my eyes and letting my hands roam over his broad back muscles. Eiji...he was so...

"Let's get up before someone comes closer and thinks we're getting dirty out in public," Eiji said, pulling back just enough to still brush his nose up against mine. 

I blushed. "Yeah, okay. Hey Eiji?"

"Yes, Ash?"

"Wanna wash up and make out in the hotel room for a bit before breakfast?"

"Of course, Ash."

**Author's Note:**

> Eiji Thirst Week begins! This piece only loosely fits the prompt really, but I promise my upcoming ones stay more on topic.
> 
> I've written all of these to be able to stand on their own, but they can also be read as taking place in my Perfect Days series as well. Some of them will take place during Eiji and Ash's trip around Japan (like this one) while others will be around the time of the wedding and after. Regardless, they'll all be fluffy. Or smutty. Or both!


End file.
